Cascadia Always: Autonomy, Empire, and Counter-Mapping Counter-Insurgency

Abstract

The Pacific Northwest’s Cascadia movement constitutes a perplexing crossroads. It’s jarring breadth, an enigma, enamoring observers as Anarchists, Neo-Nazis, Non-Profits, decolonial activists, and Bill Gates all stake (secessionist) claims in the same space, under the same name: Cascadia. This thesis explores the contested geography of the Pacific Northwest; specifically, I investigate the complex movement centered around developing its regional autonomy from the U.S. and Canadian federal governments. I am interested in understanding how each of these drastically conflicting perspectives stake claims in the same geographic region. The region is defined differently by each wing of the Cascadia movement, but falls primarily in the states/provinces of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. Other interpretations (notably by the Fascist and Reformist wings) include parts of Northern California, Montana, Yukon, and Alaska. The wide range of people involved in the movement’s different sects – from professors to white power gang members to tech CEOs and government representatives – demonstrates the region’s dissatisfaction with and implicates the future of its governance. The Cascadia movement is motivated by the region’s unique and precious ecology, and the various perspectives within the movement align in their desire to protect it from climate change and extractive industry, as well as in their agreement that U.S./Canadian federal government is not aligned with this goal. This perspective is associated with the movement’s connection to the ideology of Bioregionalism, which emphasizes the development of environmental governance structures at a regional scale, the regions defined by watersheds and/or other environmental factors (bioregions).Through developing a deeper understanding of the Cascadia movement, my thesis provides critical insight into the political geography of social movements, specifically in understanding the different scales at which political contestation operates and influences the future of regional/national governance. Furthermore, I provide insight into the intricacies of complex, place-based and environmental movements; this insight is vital to understanding the relationship between these movements and the State in the context of environmental collapse and rising contestation between local and federal forces. As I theorize through a human geographic lens, I am drawn to the way people and places co-constitute each other. My focus on the Cascadia movement examines how such drastically differing and conflictual perspectives are influenced by and shape the direction of the region. My thesis is unique in its breadth and its geographic analysis of the movement, utilizing archival resources to consolidate a robust genealogy of the Cascadia movement’s historical and ideological development. I also draw from archival research to analyze the concepts of Empire and counter-insurgency (COIN) in relation to the Cascadia movement. Empire is a fluid, difficult to define concept – this thesis explores various critical approaches to defining the concept and attempts to articulate one which contends with the (settler-colonial) context of Cascadia. Counter-insurgency is the collection of practices/structures/ideologies utilized by the government – and its independent partners – in opposition to social movements determined to be a threat to its legitimacy. My thesis provides a unique, in-depth, expansive, and critical reading of COIN doctrine, and argues for an understanding of COIN as an active, worldbuilding process – as opposed to its self-described, reactive and defensive nature. In applying my analysis of Empire and COIN to the Cascadia movement, this thesis argues that these forces – through tactics ranging from elimination to incarceration to incorporation into the State – have altered the course of the Cascadia movement in directions more favorable to stability of federal governance in the region. I argue that, over the course of its altered/contested development, the Cascadian movement has evolved into three distinct bodies: the “Liberationist,” the “Fascist,” and the “Reformist.” Alongside an analysis of these three formations’ perspectives, I employ the method of counter-mapping to visualize and analyze the contemporary Cascadia movement’s structure. Counter-mapping is a geographic methodological approach – most often used in an activist-scholar context – which utilizes maps to (re)construct how a given place is understood and motivate collective action to change it. Specifically, in this thesis, I utilize the counter-mapping method of power-mapping for movement analysis. Typically, power-mapping (also known as social network analysis) refers to the process of identifying “key players” within a given institution or for a particular campaign – e.g. identifying and tracing the connections between the leadership of a financial institution or the visualizing of the key decision-makers in the process of passing a particular reform bill. I articulate and argue for a more-expansive approach to power-mapping as a means to visualize the broad and complex systems of power dominating a particular area/space (including the “space” of a movement itself). In this thesis, I argue that power-mapping can serve as a powerful tool for geographic research due to its capacity to aid in the development of a sense of place. More simply, through visualization of a place’s structures of power, one is more capable of understanding, analyzing, and connecting with that place. Furthermore, I argue that power-mapping constructs a conflictual sense of place, i.e. one which centers the contestation of that place, for example in the context of a social movement. In applying my power-mapping approach to the Cascadia movement, I developed five annotated power-maps utilizing Little Sis’ open-source database and Oligrapher software to visualize the central people and organizations steering its direction. These maps – available in their entirety through Little Sis and as supplementary files to this thesis – not only demonstrated the distinct structures of the different wings of the movement but also provided insight into the movement’s various connections with broader insurgent movements and the (counter-insurgent) State. To summarize – this thesis contributes to geographic literature in several key areas. First, I provide a uniquely comprehensive overview of the Cascadia movement, its development, and the various shapes it takes in the contemporary context. Second, I articulate an in-depth, expansive, and critical reading of COIN doctrine; I reconceptualize COIN through a critical geographic lens – arguing it is a world-building process, rather than one of reactivity and defensiveness. Finally, I expand on counter-mapping methods to utilize the practice of power-mapping in analyzing the Cascadia movement’s structure. I argue for power-mapping’s use in counter-mapping theory and practice due to its ability to construct a deeper and conflictual sense of place. My thesis has implications not only for understanding the Cascadia movement in its particularities, but also for understanding broader geographies of governance and contested space. In light of increasing tensions between local and federal forces, activist groups and state actors alongside the increasingly unstable climate, the intricacies of the Cascadia movement prove a vital case for understanding the unfolding direction of political geographies. Through developing a deeper understanding of the Cascadia movement, my thesis provides critical insight into the political geography of social movements, specifically in understanding the different scales at which political contestation operates and influences the future of regional/national governance. Furthermore, i provide insight into the intricacies of complex, place-based and environmental movements; this insight is vital to understanding the relationship between these movements and the State in the context of environmental collapse and rising contestation between local and federal forces. As i theorize through a human geographic lens, i am drawn to the way people and places co-constitute each other. My focus on the Cascadia movement examines how such drastically differing and conflictual perspectives are influenced by and shape the direction of the region. My thesis is unique in its breadth and its geographic analysis of the movement, utilizing archival resources to consolidate a robust genealogy of the Cascadia movement’s historical and ideological development. i also draw from archival research to analyze the concepts of Empire and counter-insurgency (COIN) in relation to the Cascadia movement. Empire is a fluid, difficult to define concept – this thesis explores various critical approaches to defining the concept and attempts to articulate one which contends with the (settler-colonial) context of Cascadia. Counter-insurgency is the collection of practices/structures/ideologies utilized by the government – and its independent partners – in opposition to social movements determined to be a threat to its legitimacy. My thesis provides a unique, in-depth, expansive, and critical reading of COIN doctrine, and argues for an understanding of COIN as an active, worldbuilding process – as opposed to its self-described, reactive and defensive nature. In applying my analysis of Empire and COIN to the Cascadia movement, this thesis argues that these forces – through tactics ranging from elimination to incarceration to incorporation into the State – have altered the course of the Cascadia movement in directions more favorable to stability of federal governance in the region. I argue that, over the course of its altered/contested development, the Cascadian movement has evolved into three distinct bodies: the “Liberationist,” the “Fascist,” and the “Reformist.” Alongside an analysis of these three formations’ perspectives, i employ the method of counter-mapping to visualize and analyze the contemporary Cascadia movement’s structure. Counter-mapping is a geographic methodological approach – most often used in an activist-scholar context – which utilizes maps to (re)construct how a given place is understood and motivate collective action to change it. Specifically, in this thesis, i utilize the counter-mapping method of power-mapping for movement analysis. Typically, power-mapping (also known as social network analysis) refers to the process of identifying “key players” within a given institution or for a particular campaign – e.g. identifying and tracing the connections between the leadership of a financial institution or the visualizing of the key decision-makers in the process of passing a particular reform bill. I articulate and argue for a more-expansive approach to power-mapping as a means to visualize the broad and complex systems of power dominating a particular area/space (including the “space” of a movement itself). In this thesis, i argue that power-mapping can serve as a powerful tool for geographic research due to its capacity to aid in the development of a sense of place. More simply, through visualization of a place’s structures of power, one is more capable of understanding, analyzing, and connecting with that place. Furthermore, i argue that power-mapping constructs a conflictual sense of place, i.e. one which centers the contestation of that place, for example in the context of a social movement. In applying my power-mapping approach to the Cascadia movement, i developed five annotated power-maps utilizing Little Sis’ open-source database and Oligrapher software to visualize the central people and organizations steering its direction. These maps – available in their entirety through Little Sis and as supplementary files to this thesis – not only demonstrated the distinct structures of the different wings of the movement but also provided insight into the movement’s various connections with broader insurgent movements and the (counter-insurgent) State. To summarize – this thesis contributes to geographic literature in several key areas. First, i provide a uniquely comprehensive overview of the Cascadia movement, its development, and the various shapes it takes in the contemporary context. Second, i articulate an in-depth, expansive, and critical reading of COIN doctrine; i reconceptualize COIN through a critical geographic lens – arguing it is a world-building process, rather than one of reactivity and defensiveness. Finally, i expand on counter-mapping methods to utilize the practice of power-mapping in analyzing the Cascadia movement’s structure. I argue for power-mapping’s use in counter-mapping theory and practice due to its ability to construct a deeper and conflictual sense of place. My thesis has implications not only for understanding the Cascadia movement in its particularities, but also for understanding broader geographies of governance and contested space. In light of increasing tensions between local and federal forces, activist groups and state actors alongside the increasingly unstable climate, the intricacies of the Cascadia movement prove a vital case for understanding the unfolding direction of political geographies.